Zone 7 Meeting - December 15, 2021
2. Call Open Session Meeting to Order, Roll Call and Pledge of Allegiance 3. Report Out of Closed Session 11. Temporary Adjournment/Continuance of Zone 7 Water Agency Meeting 12. Call Livermore Valley Water Financing Authority Regular Meeting to Order 16. Adjournment of Livermore Valley Water Financing Authority Regular Meeting 17. Call Zone 7 Water Agency Meeting to Order 19. Items for Future Agenda - Directors MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ZONE 7 ALAMEDA COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT REGULAR MEETING December 15, 2021 The following were present: DIRECTORS: SANDY FIGUERS DENNIS GAMBS LAURENE GREEN SARAH PALMER OLIVIA SANWONG MICHELLE SMITH MCDONALD DIRECTORS ABSENT: ANGELA RAMIREZ HOLMES ZONE 7 STAFF: VALERIE PRYOR, GENERAL MANAGER OSBORN SOLITEI, TREASURER/ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER, FINANCE COLTER ANDERSEN, PRODUCTION MANAGER JARNAIL CHAHAL, ENGINEERING MANAGER CAROL MAHONEY, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS MANAGER TERI YASUDA, ACCOUNTING MANAGER KEN MINN, GROUNDWATER RESOURCES MANAGER TOM ROOZE, ASSOCIATE HYDROGEOLOGIST DONNA FABIAN, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT COUNSEL: REBECCA SMITH, DOWNEY BRAND Item 1 - Closed Session The Board went into Closed Session at 6:31 p.m., Director Figuers joined at 6:53 p.m., and the Board came out of Closed Session at 7:06 p.m. Item 2 - 2. Call Open Session Meeting to Order, Roll Call and Pledge of Allegiance Vice President Palmer called the Regular Board Meeting to order at 7:16 p.m. Item 3 - 3. Report Out of Closed Session - nothing to report Item 4 - 4. Public Comment - none Item 5 - Director Figuers made a motion to approve the minutes from the October 20, 2021, Regular Board Meeting and Director Green seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by a voice vote of 6-0 with Director Ramirez Holmes absent. Director Palmer made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 17, 2021, Regular Board Meeting and Director Figuers seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by a roll call vote of 5-0-1 with Director Smith McDonald abstaining and Director Ramirez Holmes absent. Item 6 - Director Smith McDonald moved to approve Items 6a through 6f and Director Figuers seconded the motion. Items 6a through 6f were approved by a roll call vote of 6-0 with Director Ramirez Holmes absent. Resolution No. 21-91 Annual Report on Collection and Use of Development Fees Resolution No. 21-92 Award Contract for Fleet Washing and Disinfection Services Resolution No. 21-93 Vacuum Service Truck Purchase Resolution No. 21-94 Award As-Needed Generator Rental Services Contract Resolution No. 21-95 Award Contract to PFM Asset Management LLC for Investment Advisory Services Resolution No. 21-96 Second Amendment to Agreement No. A00-50-DUB with Dublin San Ramon Services District Regarding Mocho Well #4 Item 7 - Osborn Solitei, Treasurer/Assistant General Manager - Finance, introduced Vanessa Burke from The Pun Group who presented the Independent Auditor's Report and Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). Ms. Burke went over what The Pun Group's scope of work entailed in terms of the audit, their annual required communications, an overview of Zone 7's financial statements, and then the results of the audit. Ms. Burke stated that The Pun Group issued an unmodified opinion, which is the highest level opinion an organization can receive. Director Smith McDonald made a motion to accept the audit report and Director Green seconded the motion. The resolution was approved by a roll call vote of 6-0 with Director Ramirez Holmes absent. The presentation will be uploaded to Zone 7's website. Item 8 - Tom Rooze, Associate Hydrogeologist, presented a summary of Zone 7's five-year update to its Alternative Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP). Mr. Rooze went over the goals and tasks that were accomplished in 2021. One of the major items that were updated were the sustainable management criteria. He summarized Zone 7's outreach activities, including keeping the website updated throughout the process and communicating with the stakeholders. He then talked about the current status of the project. Director Gambs suggested better modeling of the groundwater to help with water management decisions, including what has been done over the last few years since approximately 15,000 acre-feet has been used when over 120,000 acre-feet was estimated as usable storage. He felt that decreasing another 10,000 acre-feet could have saved $10 million in water purchases. Mr. Rooze responded that improving the groundwater model was one of the main long-term goals, however a groundwater model is only as good as the data used to create it. The short-term wish list items address and develop the data for the model. Director Sanwong thought that reviewing the drought management plan meant going deeper into the groundwater basin than what was done previously in terms of the agency's water supply. Valerie Pryor, General Manager, replied that staff were not necessarily going deeper, but they may have to depending on how many years the drought continues. 2021 will be the highest amount of pumping extraction than ever before, and staff are planning to do the same for 2022. Director Green asked for information on the Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDE). Mr. Rooze replied that in the first GSP, staff identified the Springtown Alkali Sink as a GDE. What has happened since 2016 is there has been a statewide development of additional data sets, and that is what EKI worked on. Director Green asked Mr. Rooze what he learned from it. Mr. Rooze replied that staff thinks that the GDEs are healthy and they now have the tools to monitor them. Director Figuers stated that in the next 10 years, a full understanding of the three-dimensional part of the basin is important, which is composed of two parts. There is the geology, which is the framework through which the water flows, and the actual flowing water, which sometimes can be quite independent of the geology. Staff would have to determine how deep the water is moving. He added that the geochemistry of the water must be reviewed to determine where it came from. Director Palmer opened it up to a public hearing. No comments were received. Director Palmer closed the public hearing. Director Gambs moved to approve the resolution and Director Figuers seconded it. The item was approved by a roll call vote of 6-0 with Director Ramirez Holmes absent. Item 9 - Carol Mahoney, Government Relations Manager, presented the Draft Legislative Framework which was reviewed and discussed at the Legislative Committee meeting. The Legislative Framework will act to guide the Committee and the Board in providing direction to staff on matters pertaining to agency interests with respect to federal, state, and local government legislative actions. Director Green asked for an example on how the Board can only take positions on proposals that impact the agency or state water policy, as mentioned under Strategies. Ms. Mahoney replied that there may be legislation associated with water districts that are specific to the Sacramento or the Central Valley area, so groundwater agencies may take action in that area and Zone 7 would not because it is in a different basin. Director Green asked for clarification on the process, for example, if a hot issue came up, would it start in the Legislative Committee and then come to the full Board for a vote. Ms. Mahoney replied yes, that if a piece of legislation has potential bearing on Zone 7's business, then it would be brought before the Committee to be discussed. If it is something the agency wishes to support, it would then be brought before the full Board. Director Smith McDonald made a motion to approve the Legislative Framework, and Director Green seconded the motion. The resolution was approved by a roll call vote of 6-0 with Director Ramirez Holmes absent. Item 10 - No comments were received from the Board. Item 11 - 11. Temporary Adjournment/Continuance of Zone 7 Water Agency Meeting Items 12-16 12. Call Livermore Valley Water Financing Authority Regular Meeting to Order 16. Adjournment of Livermore Valley Water Financing Authority Regular Meeting [See "Minutes of the Board of Directors, Livermore Valley Water Financing Authority, Regular Meeting, December 15, 2021"] Item 17 - 17. Call Zone 7 Water Agency Meeting to Order Item 18 - Director Palmer submitted a written report and gave a brief verbal report. Director Green attended the ACWA JPIA Board of Directors meeting where they voted on updated rules and procedures to make them consistent with code and accreditation requirements. Cyber Liability, which is covered under General Liability, was also a topic of discussion. She noted that this will eventually become more complex and expensive over time. Director Green also attended a separate session on cyber issues during the ACWA Conference and felt it was an important topic since it would eventually be reflected in the agency's insurance. Item 19 - 19. Items for Future Agenda - Directors Director Sanwong suggested a review of the implications of the 0% allocation from the state Water Project and what the agency might be doing for the untreated water customers. She also would like a better understanding of the reverse flow from Kern County and the water banks south of Zone 7. Ms. Pryor addressed these items in Item 20 as noted below. Director Palmer asked about AB 361 and if it is something Zone 7 could take advantage of. Rebecca Smith, General Counsel, thanked Director Palmer for her comment and replied that, as a reminder, AB 361 is the new legislative action that would allow the Board to meet remotely with more streamlined noticing requirements than the Brown Act ordinarily provides. Ms. Smith stated that the Board can pick that up at any time, but a resolution must be adopted every 30 days once they start it. Item 20 - Ms. Pryor highlighted a few items from the General Manager's Report including the drought emergency, the 0% allocation from the state, and the Delta Conveyance Project. Ms. Pryor said the soonest the agency would hear of any potential change in allocation might be February so everyone must keep conserving to save the locally stored groundwater to get through 2022. Ms. Pryor added that as far as potential reverse flow operations in the California aqueduct, it has not been done before. Ms. Pryor highlighted the Delta Conveyance Project and stated that the Board would consider the next phase of funding by Spring of 2022. Ms. Pryor also stated that the Department of Water Resources (DWR) hosted four informational webinars between July and September providing background information related to the preparation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Delta Conveyance Project. DWR held the webinars to keep the public and interested stakeholders informed about the current progress related to that EIR. Director Smith McDonald asked if there would be a report on the uptake of the agency's rebate programs. Ms. Pryor confirmed that information will be provided to the Board. 21. Adjournment |